Second Battle of Seoul

The Second Battle of Seoul (22-25 September 1950) was a pivotal battle of the Korean War that occurred when United Nations forces recaptured the South Korean capital of Seoul from its 7,000-strong Korean People's Army garrison. General Douglas MacArthur, the commander of the UN forces, felt that his promise to retake Seoul as soon as possible was more important than allowing for the North Korean troops in the south to retreat north, and Seoul was held by one under-strength division. Seoul was heavily-fortified, and the North Koreans threw everything they had against the UN forces. The suicidal North Korean soldiers fought to the death in house-to-house fighting, and it took three days for the UN troops to fully recapture the city. Seoul was recaptured exactly three months after the start of the war, and the South Korean government returned to the damaged capital; the South Korean police would proceed to massacre suspected communists across the country.